


The playlist of our love

by toastada



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Dex is absolutely a military kid, Jack and Dex bonded over dad rock and you can pry that headcanon from my cold dead hands, M/M, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, do i know who else will be in this? no, do i regret basing it all on country songs? also no, switching POV
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-06-01
Packaged: 2018-11-07 15:08:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11061555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toastada/pseuds/toastada
Summary: Dex leans on the wall, his head dropping back against it and all he can think about it how Jake is just on the other side of it. It somehow feels like a betrayal, even though whatever he had with Nursey was supposed to be done with. They had both decided to leave it back in Maine, washed beneath the waves of the ocean it was born before. And yet, Dex hears those waves in the fluctuation of Nursey's voice. He hears the soundtrack of that summer in each breath that Nursey takes. And damn Nursey's laugh is like the rumble of his car's engine, familiar and warming and dragging him towards a fate he isn't sure he wants to fight any longer.





	The playlist of our love

**Author's Note:**

> If you would like to listen to the songs that will be featured in this fic, click here: https://open.spotify.com/embed/user/toastada/playlist/1OX3iRT5YV0rRg2e9SA3ry

At this point, the team had learned that a problem with the dryer was likely to need a couple of hours to fix, and thus the boys had helped Dex lift it on to a table so that he could work without being slumped over for long periods of time. And after that time Nursey walked in on Dex laying flat on his back underneath the table by the stairs, he really should have stopped expecting the short breaks his d-man took to be anything normal. There was just something about tinkering that seemed to put Dex at ease and a relaxed Dex was a fun one. Yet, finding him in the basement dancing to an unknown song in an unbottoned flannel and that damn red snapback was never something Nursey thought he'd see on the list of Unlikely Shit Dex Has Done. Especially since Dex didn't even dance after three cups of tub juice at kegsters.

But there he was, absolutely glowing in the late afternoon sunlight that flooded into the room from a small window at the top of one of the walls. The tan from a summer by the sea spanning all the way down to his hips and disappearing beneath the waistline of his shorts and there was some buried part of Nursey that longed to follow it. He knew about the ocean of freckles that spanned across Dex's chest, he got to watch the winter winds blow them away last year and it had felt like losing a safety blanket, but now he wanted nothing more than to memorize their pattern. As Dex spun, Nursey suddenly began to feel like he was infringing on something private. Like he was witnessing something that was definitely not meant for his eyes. And yet, he couldn't bring himself to look away. His eyes were glued to Dex's hips, his chest, and a little tattoo on his upper rib cage that wasn't noticeable until his flannel was lifted away from his skin. Nursey could _feel_ his face light up with glee at the discovery, an almost wicked grin dancing across his face.

Nursey was definitely too pleased with himself to notice that Dex had stopped moving, at least until the tattoo disappeared under a blanket of red plaid. Glancing up at his partner's face, he found Dex frozen in surprise, wide eyed and flushing redder by the second.

"Nurse, I..." Dex was clearly at a loss for words, too flustered for his thoughts to make any sense in his head and barely remembering to take the headphones out of his ears. Nursey almost felt bad for him, but he had to do something. It would have been off brand to let Dex out of this one without so much as a single chirp.

"I didn't know you had a tattoo, Poindexter." Nursey just about purred the response and the tone felt new when it was directed at Dex. It felt flirty. It felt _right_. But if Dex caught the faint suggestion in his words, he didn't let on. Probably too busy panicking, judging by the expression on his face. He looked like he wanted to dig a hole and bury himself in it.

"I uh...yeah. I..." Dex was stammering, still trying way too hard to find the words he wanted to say. Nursey almost wanted to take pity on him, but he was enjoying the situation a little too much. He pushed on, tiptoeing closer to his defense partner.

"It's chill, Dex. It's a tattoo, not a murder weapon." Nursey could tell that Dex was suspicious, it was blatant in fiery amber of his eyes, but he wasn't backing away. Unfortunately for Dex, his half hearted glare wasn't enough to stop Nursey from hooking his fingers through Dex's belt loops and dragging him closer. It was easy to guess why Dex wasn't fighting back, considering he was definitely holding his breath as Nursey's hand swept up his side. Perhaps the movement was a little too familiar and a little too sensual, his fingers ghosting over Dex's skin as he moved to push the flannel out of the way but he was in too deep at this point.

"It's a whale." Dex rushed to explain before Nursey had a chance to get a decent look at it. Sure enough, Nursey found his eyes tracing the lines of a little blue whale. It faced towards Dex's chest, all thin lines and dotted shading. Minimalist. Nice. "My cousin and I got them on our eighteenth birthday after we had decided on different colleges away from home kind of like a best friend thing because we spent a lot of our time as kids by the ocean and please don't tell the others" Dex didn't stop rambling until he ran out of breath and Nursey felt bad that he had missed just about the entirety of what had been said. Although in his defense, he was learning for the first time that Dex blushed with his _entire body_ , and Nursey was having a slightly different meltdown in his own mind because he couldn't tell if the fire in his palm was because of Dex or himself.

"Why haven't you told the team about it?" Nursey didn't mean to cut off Dex's panicked spew of words, although he was pretty sure that in doing so he was actually helping Dex. The guy had barely taken a breath since he'd started assaulting Nursey with explanations and by the way Dex's ribs expanded under his fingers, he needed a break.

"It's not that I'm hiding it from them..." A pause. Nursey didn't press, knew that Dex would continue when his thoughts were collected. His defense partner was notoriously bad with words and had a habit of stumbling over himself when he was nervous. Nursey learned months ago that giving Dex time to figure out what he wanted to say was the best way to avoid a confrontation. It was the main reason they'd stopped fighting so much. When Nursey managed to tear his gaze from the tattoo and actually look at Dex, he found his partner with his brows knit together and his bottom lip being rolled between his teeth. Nursey couldn't help but watch, his eyes fixated on Dex.

"It's just...did you see the way you reacted to it?" Dex was talking again and Nursey desperately hoped he was able to look away from his mouth quick enough. "You know how the boys get. They're gonna make a huge fuss about it and I just don't want to be at the center of it, y'know?" Nursey couldn't exactly argue with that. The team got excited about casual things just a little too easily and while they knew when to take things seriously, a tattoo didn't really necessitate that. Still, it wasn't like everyone would tease him about it. Except maybe Nursey, but he was having a bit of difficulty focusing on anything when he looked at it.

"It's just...did you see the way you reacted to it?" Dex was talking again and Nursey desperately hoped he was able to look away from his mouth quick enough. "You know how the boys get. They're gonna make a huge fuss about it and I just don't want to be at the center of it, y'know?" Nursey couldn't exactly argue with that. The team got excited about casual things just a little too easily and while they knew when to take things seriously, a tattoo didn't really necessitate that. Still, it wasn't like everyone would tease him about it. Except maybe Nursey, but he was having a bit of difficulty focusing on anything when he looked at it.

"They've never chirped me for my tattoo." Nursey pointed out, looking back to where the small tattoo marked Dex's skin. He ran his thumb over it, earning a soft but sharp inhale from Dex in response.

"Yeah," Dex's response was something close to breathless and when Nursey looked up at him, there was no returning gaze. "Well your tattoo isn't a cutesy little whale." There was the tone Nursey had learned to love. Not quite aggressive, but it had an edge to it that never seemed to blunt. He wondered when he had begun to find it endearing.

"Did you really just say 'cutesy'? Poindexter, I know you know more words than that." So Nursey wasn't going to chirp him about the tattoo, not if it really concerned Dex. But that absolutely didn't mean he couldn't chirp him for that description because honestly, cutesy just wasn't a word that he'd ever imagine Dex would use. Adorable maybe, but not cutesy.

"Oh shut up, Nurse." Dex shoved him, but it was light. Playful. The normal way they rough housed nowadays, like kids fighting over the last cookie. There wasn't even enough power behind it to make Nursey move. "But seriously," Dex didn't have the ease in his voice anymore and he almost looked...nervous? "Please don't say anything?" There was that damn lip bite again. Nursey's eyes lingered just a little bit and if that was the moment he realized he'd probably do anything Dex asked, well his partner didn't need to know that.

"One condition." Nursey began, adopting a casual tone. He could see that it made Dex suspicious but he made no effort to change it as he continued to speak. "Dance with me." So maybe he'd thought about this before and maybe that was the only thing stopping his voice from trembling.

Dex didn't give him a clear answer, just looked at him in vague surprise for a few moments before he started moving. Nursey watched as Dex ghosted his fingers up along his rib cage. They curled around where Nursey had his hand, plucking it from the warmth of his body heat. Nursey was too entranced with watching Dex's left hand and trying desperately to relieve the dryness in his throat hat he failed to notice Dex replace one of his ear buds. It wasn't until Nursey felt a weight on his shoulder--Dex's forearm he realized--and the sound of music played in his ear that it all seemed to click.

Dex was quiet as he threaded his arm around the back of Nursey's neck, drawing him closer. Nursey did the only thing his rapidly numbing mind could think to do and his arm wrapped around Dex's waist. And if he pulled Dex just a little too close, well then that's just something he could blame on the type of dance they were doing.

Their dance was slow, the rhythm completely different from the rock music that sounded through Dex's headphones and for a moment Nursey wondered if their pace was intentional. It wasn't that he and Dex weren't capable of being at ease with each other, it's just that this type of interaction wasn't them. They operated on a level that didn't involve swaying gently to a song with an insane amount of guitar and holding each other agonizingly close. But perhaps the latter was only an issue that Nursey was having any real problems with. He was almost certain that Dex wasn't as interested in Nursey as Nursey was in Dex.

Watching Dex was just about Nursey's favorite thing, and their closeness made that a little difficult. Luckily, with the way Dex was blatantly staring past him, Nursey was able to be just about as obvious as he could get. His eyes traced every curve of Dex's face, mapped each freckle--new and old, watched the shadows shift over his skin as they danced. He found the familiar far away look in Dex's eyes that he got whenever he was deep in thought. For a moment, Nursey wondered just what occupied Dex's mind, but then they swayed into the afternoon sun and the way Dex's eyes turned to flame made Nursey's breath catch.

"Go to Maine with me this summer." Dex blurted out, the clarity returning to his eyes.

"Wait, what?" Nursey, for as much as he was wrapped up in Dex's everything, was a bit startled at the request. A part of him suspected that maybe it wasn't serious, or was just a spur of the moment prospect that sounded fine in his head but lost its luster once Dex finally voiced it.

"Maine. This summer. Come and visit me." Dex was sticking to his guns. His skin, which had cooled to a rosy pink, was starting to turn to flames again, but he had that determined gleam in his eyes as he barreled on. "Not for like, the whole summer, but just a couple of weeks? Like a sort of test run for living together, except my parents will also be there." Dex furrowed his eyebrows at that last part, as if maybe that was some sort of deal breaker. Nursey just grinned at the idea.

"Chyeah dude, sounds chill." In retrospect, Nursey probably should have taken a few more moments to think it over, either to save face or actually consider what a summer in Maine would mean. He always did have somewhat poor impulse control, though.

"I changed my mind, you're not going anywhere near my house." Dex's tone was flat, but that grin on his face made it clear that he didn't mean it. Nursey's responding smile was probably blinding.

"Too late, no take backsies." That little quip earned Nursey an eye roll. Leave it to Dex to make something so insignificant seem like a badge of honor.

**Author's Note:**

> Things we have learned so far:  
> \- Nursey doesn't necessarily have a thing for tattoos. What he does have, however, is a thing for tattoos on Dex. Specifically ones that are located in areas that are less than casual to touch and definitely not casual to hold. But yknow, it's chill.  
> \- Bros can slow dance with each other, right? Totally something good ol pals do. Alone, in a basement, with no one else around. Just two bros doin bro stuff.
> 
> There was a plan to update this regularly but honestly, writing the ending took like a week and this was before my summer semester started. So I guess we'll see how the rest of these chapters go.
> 
> For anyone who would like the visual, this is the tattoo I was imagining on Dex: http://68.media.tumblr.com/3f73af6101b2d7e12eb34d802d9eeeb8/tumblr_o7p4mxIocG1tx3jm7o1_1280.jpg His cousin absolutely has it in the same spot and they definitely haven't told their parents about it.


End file.
